


News from Home

by rilina



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Gift Fic, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-24
Updated: 2006-07-24
Packaged: 2017-10-03 14:50:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rilina/pseuds/rilina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jiraiya brings Tsunade the latest gossip from Konoha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	News from Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oyceter](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Oyceter).



> Spoilers for the Tsunade arc. For oyceter, though I wish I could have come up with something a little more cheerful for her birthday ficlet.

Tsunade doesn’t waste time on goodbyes when she decides to leave Konoha; she simply nods at Shizune and heads for the gate. They’ve been traveling for nearly two weeks before the younger woman realizes that her master has no intention of going back.

When Jiraiya finds them, nearly a year after their departure, Tsunade is drinking away what remains of their money at a local bar, and Shizune is brainstorming ways to skip out on the bill. There are the usual methods, of course, but they involve the wanton destruction of other people’s property. And it’s not the poor owner’s fault that they’re broke. Again. So Shizune thinks sneakier tactics might be best. (No one ever told her that she’d be using her ninja training for such things, but she’s turned out to be rather good at it anyway.) She’s so absorbed by her analysis of escape routes that she doesn’t notice that they have company until Tsunade says, “Sensei sent you? That’s rich.”

“There’s a sucker born every minute,” Jiraiya says as he sits down at their table, “but even I’m not fool enough to take that assignment. Hello, Tsunade, Shizune. It’s been a while.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I had business in the next village and heard you were here. Your reputation still goes before you, Tsunade-hime.”

“Well, if you’re hoping for a walk down memory lane, I’m not interested. You’ll have to bother Orochimaru instead.”

Shizune’s spent enough time around the sannin to know that’s Jiraiya’s cue to crack a joke at Orochimaru’s expense. But Jiraiya only shakes his head and says, “Can’t. He’s gone.”

“Gone?” Tsunade’s back straightens, as it always does when she’s bracing herself for bad news. “How?”

“I didn’t say dead. I said gone. Or rather, missing.”

They’ve been away from Konoha for a long time, but Shizune still recognizes the code word for traitor. Looking at her master’s face, she sees that Tsunade does too. But Tsunade only pours herself more sake before saying, “And you’re trying to bring him back.” The contempt in her voice makes Shizune wince.

“No, I’ve wasted enough time on that already.” Jiraiya sounds weary, even old, not a bit like the shinobi who used to amuse himself by provoking Tsunade’s legendary rage. “But I am keeping an eye on him. For Yondaime. Sandaime-sensei’s retired.”

“So he finally named a successor.”

“I thought you should know.” He glances down at Tsunade’s chest, and for once, Shizune knows that it’s not because he’s leering at her master’s cleavage. “All things considered. Don’t worry. Yondaime’s not going to send anyone after you either.”

Tsunade orders more sake. “I wouldn’t go anyway.”

“I know.” He gets back to his feet. “I’ll be going. I have things to do.”

“Goodbye, then.” She doesn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t think we’ll meet again.”

He walks away. Shizune thinks his years are showing. There’s a new heaviness to his gait; his movements seem stiff, even labored, as if he’s recovering from a severe injury. Working with Tsunade, who’s been hiding her age for as long as most people can remember, Shizune sometimes forgets how old the sannin really are. Most shinobi die before they reach twenty; few live long enough to teach students, to raise children, to retire. The Sannin became living legends for many reasons, and one of those reasons was that they managed to survive when others didn’t.

Jiraiya’s almost reached the door when Tsunade’s curiosity finally gets the better of her. “Who did Sandaime pick after all?”

He turns to answer, and his face is creased into the manic smile that Shizune remembers, the one that made you hope you hadn’t been at the onsen at the wrong time again. “My apprentice.” He laughs; Shizune’s not sure whether it’s at their shocked faces or at his own pride. “And don’t worry about the bill, Shizune-chan. It’s been paid.”

Shizune tries to imagine the Yellow Flash as the new Hokage, and it makes her remember all the things she misses about Konoha. Her family, her friends, her colleagues, her team. She does not regret following Tsunade—she would not accept another kunoichi as her master—but occasionally she thinks it would be nice to go home again.

She misses Konoha a little less, however, when she discovers that Jiraiya wasn’t exactly telling the truth about the bill.


End file.
